MOVIE REVIEW: The Disruptors (2024)
It goes without saying that I’m a huge fan of Dropout.tv, Sam Reich, and anything related to what College Humor has turned into in recent years after Sam took over. As per what I think is the norm, I started by watching Dimension 20, their Dungeons ‘N’ Dragons Actual Play series, but I’ve begun watching a lot of their other shows as well, like Umm, Actually, Game Changer, and Make Some Noise to mention a few. So, when two of their regular actors/comedians, Ally Beardsley and Grant O’Brien mentioned that they were crowdfunding a movie with an unfamiliar name, Adam Frucci, I figured I’d throw a few coins on the pile just to see what these guys could pull off with a small budget. I waited until a friend of mine was in town before watching, which is why I haven’t written about it before, but we finally watched it and I will say, up front, that I was quite pleasantly surprised.
The Disruptors is inherently a sort of heist movie, but nothing on the scale of Ocean’s Eleven. It’s centered around the modern-day struggles of talented people who have made decisions that took their life in an unsuspecting direction that didn’t lead them to any sort of great financial success. Grant’s character, Will Kerrigan, is a ride-share driver who lives with his best friend, Glen Marnell, but they aren’t making enough money to pay their rent, despite them having a scam that allows Glen to access Will’s clients’ apps for gift cards. Up front, it shows that Will is not inherently a bad guy, as he only rips off people who are rude or (are portrayed as) total douchebags, while other people who are struggling are left in peace. They hint, as well, that Glen did something on the internet some time ago that has them permanently recognized and hated, so Glen has, as a result, become a recluse/shut-in and doesn’t go out in public at all if they can help it.
The movie centers around a new money-making scam, wherein the duo make an effort to rip off a billionaire investor, Bruce Markus (Marc Evan Jackson), who really gave me the vibes of both Miles Bron (Edward Norton) from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance) from Don’t Look Up in that sort of bad-quirky, idiotic, unlikeable billionaire role. Will is convinced that Bruce is a complete moron who will fall for anything and uses his likely-new-stepfather’s journalistic connections to get contact information for him, thus setting the scam in motion.
Story-wise, this isn’t really a novel concept, as it follows a pretty familiar path: the scheme, the complication, the double-down, the betrayal, everything falls apart, and the redemption, but I did love the way it was updated for the modern audience. I felt genuine cringe-pain listening to the sports-loving douchebag rideshare customer talking about his podcast, or when Will goes to a job interview and gets asked if he is afraid that he won’t fit the company’s “vibe” because he dropped out of college, right after seeing yet another sloppy douchebag who knew the HR rep… it’s pretty clear that Will was far more qualified, but that the douche would get the job because he knew the HR rep. I legitimately felt that pain. It’s so true to this day and age.
The comedy was also very solid. Considering this film featured Ally Beardsley and Grant O’Brien, who are known for over-the-top humor (and horniness), I was expecting it to be a cringe-fest, but Adam Frucci was the writer and he seems to have not been interested in writing a weird/horny movie, so this gave space for me to genuinely appreciate Beardsley and O’Brien for their acting skills, which are really impressive—they weren’t just playing the same versions of themselves you see regularly on Dropout shows. Especially considering the crowdfunding budget, the overall quality of the acting and filmography was really very impressive. We had a few chuckles over the obvious faux brands, for example, but the quality of the filming locations was also quite excellent and it felt like a quality-made film despite the modest funding.
Even more fun, it was entertaining to play Dropout bingo, seeing how many familiar faces we could spot in the cast, like Siobhan Thompson, Jessica Ross, Raphael Chestang, Lily Du, and Katie Marovich (who, truly, always does such a great job of making the viewer uncomfortable somehow).
The overall point of the movie seems to be that friendship and being a good person are, indeed, a lot more important than money, and that we all find our way, somehow, no matter what, so long as we have the right people at our sides/on our team. On the whole, it was an enjoyable watch and it did make me wonder if Adam Frucci is a fan of Knives Out because it occurred to me that in Glass Onion, the idiot billionaire’s friends were referred to as “the disruptors” and I wondered if it had inspired this film’s name or if that was sheer coincidence. Either way, if you’re looking to support the Dropout cast and/or check out some quality indie films, do give The Disruptors a chance, it might just surprise you!
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